Method of painting shoe buckles



Oct. 2, 1951 A. 'r. BIBBY ETAL METHOD OF PAINTING SHOE BUCKLES Filed Oct. 15, 1949 Patented Oct. 2, 1951 METHOD OF PAINTING SHOE BUCKLES Alfred T. Bibby and Herbert A. Dukett, Lynn, Mass.

Application October 15, 1949, Serial No. 121,484

1 Claim. (01. 117-104) This invention relates to improvements in methods of painting shoe buckles or other small articles which are to be coated on all surfaces with paint, enamel, or other coating material sprayed thereon.

The principal purpose of the invention i to provide a novel spray-painting method which will ensure that all exposed surfaces of shoe buckles or the like are adequately coated at a minimum expenditure of time and labor.

'The conventional method of painting shoe buckles, as heretofore practiced, has involved the arduous and time-consuming labor of placing the buckles by hand on a screen or other support, so that the buckles lie flat and spaced from each other; spraying paint on the uppermost surfaces of the buckles; drying the paint in a heated chamber; then manually turning each of the "buckles upside down and lifting the tongue of each buckle; and finally a plying a second spray coat to the unpainted surface of the buckles, and

1' drying the second coat. This procedure involves close and precise hand work, requires a long period of time. and limits the quantity of buckles which may be spray coated on a screen of a given size, with the result that the cost of painting shoe buckles has averaged between 35 and 40 per gross.

The improved method herein disclosed substantially reduces the manual labor and time heretofore required, and permits a gross of buckles to be painted at a cost of not over 6 or 7. The new method involves the dumping of a 'pile or mass of shoe buckles onto a support, such as a tray or other receptacle, preferably having a bottom screen of conventional nature, so that the buckles are scattered over the screen in the position in which they happen to fall thereon, without handling by the operator; spraying paint or enamel on the mass of scattered buckles, by directing a spray gun from various an les with respect to the sup orting screen, so that all exposed surfaces of the buckles are coated; drying the paint or enamel, preferably in a baking oven, without changing the position of the buckles on the screen; then removing the screen from the oven and agitating or tumbling the partially painted buckles, either by shaking the screen or merely by dumping the mass of buckles into another tray; again spray painting the exposed surfaces of the buckles from various angles, and drying the newly applied coat; and repeating the steps of tumbling or dumping the mass of dried buckles from one tray to another, and repainting the exposed surface of the buckles in their new positions, until all surfaces of the buckles, including the tongues and rollers, are coated. The number of operations necessary to completely coat all the buckles of the mass will depend upon the size and quantity of the buckles, the size of the tray and the desired thickness of the coating; but for a given quantity of buckles the time expended will be very much less than that required to paint the same quantity by the 7 old method. Furthermore, as aforesaid, a much larger quantity of bucklesmay be thoroughly painted on a support of a given size, by follow- I ing the method herein disclosed.

The improved process is diagrammatically illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which, Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a screen-bottomed tray upon which a mass of shoe buckles has been scattered;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the application of paint by a conventional spray gun to the exposed or accessible surfaces of the scattered buckles in the mass;

Fig. 3 illustrates the step of dumping a mass of partially painted buckles from one tray to another tray, whereby the buckles are tumbled and scattered in shifted positions, to expose unpainted surfaces thereof; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a coated shoe buckle of a type which may be satisfactorily painted by the improved process.

Thepainting of shoe buckles of the type shown,

for example, in Fig. 4, has been diflicult to ac- J complish satisfactorily, not only because the buckles II are of such a form that they present top, bottom and lateral surfaces of small areas, but also because the tongue l2 and roller l3 of the buckles must be coated on all exposed surfaces. Dipping of the buckles in a coating bath is unsatisfactory because the paint lodges in the hinge of the tongue and under the roller, so that the tongue and roller will not move freely. Brush painting is obviously too arduous and time-consuming for quantity output. Spray painting has proved most satisfactory, but the conventional spray painting procedures, as above described, have been laborious, time-consuming and costly.

In accordance with the present invention, a. mass of shoe buckles is dumped from a pail or other container into a tray I 4 or other receptacle, preferably having a heavy screen l5 constituting its bottom. The screen may be of M mesh, if

desired. Other types of supports may obviously a drying oven. tumbling the buckles from the tray I6 onto another tray (which may be the tray I4), spraying all exposed surfaces, and drying the mass of posed buckles scattered in an overlapping relation on the supporting surface. The layer may be of uniform thickness, or of varying or irregular thickness with more buckles aroundthe margin of the tray, if desired, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

All exposed and accessible surfaces of the scattered buckles are coated with a suitable paint or enamel, by a conventional spray gun t6, as indicated in Fig. :2, the spray gun being directed on to the mass of buckles from a variety of points and angles, to coat as much of the surface of as :many buckles as feasible in the initial coating :step. The partially coated buckles are then dried, preferably by placing the tray I4 in -,a drying oven, without disturbing the positions of the buckles therein.

After drying of the first paint application, the tray 1 4 is removed from the oven and the buckles therein are dumped into a second tray 16, preftray t6 will again be scattered over the screen 11 a scattered mass, so that-many unpainted surraces will be exposed for a second application of .thelpai'nt or enamel.

Paint is next sprayed on the buckles in the tray Q'lli from a variety of angles or positions, as in the first coating operation, and the tray is placed in The operation of dumping or buckles in the tray, is repeated, as aforesaid,

until all portions: of all buckles, including the .tongues and rollers, have been thoroughly painted, as deter-mined from observation.

'It will be appreciated that small portions of tionally in a very thin solution. It is only necessary, in the ordinary case, that all surface portions of the buckles receive at least one coat'of the paint or enamel.

As previously stated, the practice of the improved method of' painting buckles or the like materially reduces the painting cost per gross,

-;even though :more spraying and drying operations I Number are required than in the old and conventional process, because hand manipulation of the individual buckles is entirely eliminated. Although the improved method was devised primarily for the painting of small buckles such as used on shoes and other wearing apparel, it may be practiced to advantage in spray painting other small metal articles, and it will be understood that the term shoe buckles as used in the-following claims is intended to include analogous metal articles. It will also be understood that the practice of the process is not intended to be limited to the use of the apparatus shown on the drawings to illustrate these steps of the process; for it is apparent that other forms of supports may be employed to receive the mass of buckles, and that mechanical devices may be utilized to convey the supported mass from the spray-coating stage to the drying stage.

We claim:

A method of painting shoe buckles of the roller relative positions of the buckles on the support,

transferring the dried buckles from'saidsupport to a second screen-like support while agitating the buckles so-that they are scattered in a new variety of shifted positions and in different regular relation on the second support, again spray-painting the exposed surfaces of the new mass of scattered buckles while the same are at rest'on the second support, drying the buckles on thesecond support, and repeating'the transferring and agitating, "spray-painting, and'd'rying steps until all exposed surfaces of the buckles have been coated with paint.

ALFRED T. BIBBY. '-HERBERT A. DUKETT REFERENCES CITED The followingreferen'ce's are of record in the file of this patent: V

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 2,151,553 Maueler Mar. 2-1, 1949 

